India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports decreased by 5.9 percent in November while the import bill rose about 33 percent when compared to the same month last year, according to the preliminary data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
The country imported 2.32 billion cubic meters or about 1.7 million tonnes of LNG in November, compared to 2.46 bcm in the same month last year, PPAC said.
Also, November LNG imports dropped when compared to 2.41 bcm in October.
During the April-November period, India took 18.57 bcm of LNG, or some 13.6 million tonnes, down by 13.5 percent when compared to the same period last year, PPAC said.
India paid $1.6 billion for November LNG imports, a rise of about 33.3 percent compared to $1.2 billion last year, while costs increased about 56 percent to $12.8 billion in April-November from $8.2 billion last year.
As per India’s natural gas production, it dropped by 1.1 percent to 2.83 bcm in November. Gas production rose by 0.6 percent in April-November to 22.90 bcm.
India’s monthly LNG imports have been constantly dropping this year due to mostly high spot prices.
Asian spot LNG prices rose during the last week. The JKM LNG price for February settled at $35.575 per mmBtu on Sunday.
At the moment, India imports LNG via six facilities with a combined capacity of about 42.7 million tonnes.
India’s Adani and France’s TotalEnergies have almost completed their 5 mtpa Dhamra LNG import facility located in Odisha, on India’s east coast.
Petronet LNG’s 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 80.6 percent capacity while Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 47.4 percent capacity in April-October, PPAC said.